Dig It Up *A 'Holes' Fanfiction*

Comforting Squid...

Chapter 20

I woke up with a start. It wasn’t the bell. What time is it? I was about to sit up but I noticed that someone was getting out of bed. The creaking of the cot was close to my left. Squid?  I rolled over pretending to move in my sleep, letting out a deep breath after I was fully facing an empty cot. I peeked through my eyelashes. The shadowy figure stopped moving; instead it was frozen solid in the middle of the tent. After a few seconds the figure slowly back up towards the flaps of the tent. When it reached the end of Zigzag’s cot, it turned and flipped the covers open disappearing outside. I shoved the sheet off of me and swung my legs over the side and stood up. Armpit snored loudly. I stood still. Armpit’s sleeping body rolled over and threw a hand limply over the side. I tiptoed out of the tent. It was real dark since the lights weren’t on. I found out who the figure was, it only made me curious. What is he doing out here at night? Why the hell did no one see him? But more importantly I wondered if he was OK. Squid comforted me when I was at my lowest; maybe he needed me this time? Like he said, I needed him as much as he needed me. I was very concerned if anything was wrong and hoped to God he wasn't doing something stupid like self-harming. A torchlight flicked past me. I ducked back into the tent. I waited a second before I stepped out to see Squid’s figure walking away. I was scared that he would suddenly turn round and see me and I was equally scared that I might step on one of those cursed lizards. But I guess it was a kind of 'thrill of the chase' feeling most of the time. And it mixed with the excitement that I might finally have a moment alone with him. I kept to the shadows and made sure that whenever Squid turned round to check for followers, I wasn't caught in the beam of his flashlight.

Eventually we'd been walking for about five minutes and I realized we were heading for the dried lake because now, I was able to hide behind the lumps of dirt that we'd left there during the day. I made sure I kept at least a few meters behind Squid and I was secretly enjoying diving behind the piles of dirt when Squid's flashlight would whip round and I'd have to hide. Finally I peeked over a pile of dirt to see Squid in the distance and he was now knelt on the dusty floor of the lake. Grinning and trying to hide my childlike joy as I began to sneak up on him, diving between lumps of dirt and edging round previously dug holes. It was kind of exciting I had realized. But as I dived behind the final lump of dirt only a meter or so away from Squid and peeked over the top, I could hear gentle sobbing. Squinting further into the darkness I could see he was actually in fact knelt next to a hole and crying. My expression became blank as I froze watching the boy I liked softly crying to himself. This wasn't fun at all…

I could see his smaller frame rising and falling in time with his tears while his arms hung limply by his sides. He was looking at a picture of what looked like a very happy family, a mom, a dad, and a little baby holding a small blue octopus toy. The baby's face was in a very cute smile, and the parents looked very happy. They seemed to be in front of public cswimming pool. The adult's feet were dangling in the water and the child sitting on his dad's lap. Some tears dripped down and splashed onto the shiny surface of the photo. I bit my lip, as I began to wish I hadn't followed him out here. But at the same time, I could feel myself standing up and walking over to him. It hurt me bad to see him like this. He was normally so strong and invincible, that seeing him like this made me feel weird. I wasn't sure if it was good weird, or bad weird. But either way, my heart still ached as I looked at him. He must've heard my footsteps first because he whirled round and looked up at me, pointing the flashlight in my direction. His eyes widened then he resumed crying, harder than before and he then angrily punched the floor, turning his head away, obviously angry at being discovered. I chewed my lip and cautiously began moving to sit next to him.

"Hey Squid…" I said sitting next to directly in front of him while he turned his torso away from me.

"Hey E-ember…" he said back in a soft voice although I could still see the glints of tiny silent tears slipping from his eyes. My heart felt like it had been ripped out, trodden on, chewed, shot and then stitched back into my chest again as I watched him cry. With slight hesitation I awkwardly reached out and put my arm round his shoulders, pulling him towards me in a somewhat awkward hug. Yet it made my heart hurt a little less when I felt him put his arms round my waist and lean his head against my chest in a position similar to a mother comforting her child.